Women in science, engineering and technology: three decades of UK initiatives

Abstract

This book presents an accessible overview of the recent history of initiatives taken in the UK to encourage girls and women into non-traditional fields such as science, engineering, technology, construction, and the trades. It examines girls and science projects in schools, training programs for women in manual trades, activist groups for students and women professionals, and programs sponsored by the government such as the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative and the Resource Centre for Women in Science and Educational Technology. Using archival and interview data spanning the 1970s to the early 2000s, it explores the aims and frameworks of the initiatives, examines the practices developed, and comments on the mixed results achieved. Although there is policy and academic research on the causes of women’s under-representation in non-traditional fields, the important initiatives designed to address the problem are under-researched. Consequently there has been little opportunity for educational practitioners, activists, policy-makers and scholars to analyze and learn from the practices and politics that were developed. This book will be an invaluable aid to their reflection and for future development, with relevance far wider than the UK context.